Hi everyone.

Here is my question. I have been working out on my limited time schedule (it's the best I can do with two kids). I have seen
some results in 2 months but it seems to have levelled off.

Here is my plan

Day 1

Triceps
One arm tricep extension (15 pounds each arm)
lying tricep extension or dumbell kickback

Upper Arms
One arm hammer curl (30 pounds each arm)
dumbell curl (30 pounds each arm)

Day 2 cardio for twenty minutes
shamless Crazy Dancing

Day 3
Traps
Standing sumbell upright row
dumbell shrug ((30 pounds each arm) it seems to light though

Shoulders
Dumbell front raise (25 pounds)
Straight-arm front delt raise above head

Chest
Dumbell pullover (25 pounds)
sumbell fly

Day 4
Cardio

Day 5
Back and stomach
(I can't find those excersices on my sheet right now so I don't know the proper names)


Now, I don't always do cardio. Sometimes, it's 11:30pm and I must get to bed or, I am out for the evening and I miss a workout so I move it to the next day. It's a very flexible :( schedule but honestly, with two kids it's really hard. Fortunately, by not getting discouraged when I miss a workout, I have been able to not give up (as I have many times over the years).


My eating has changed as well. NO fast food, NO pop. I eat three fruits a day and all my food is cooked at home. Since my wife is at home with the kids, she is cooking all the dinners and I take it for lunch the next day.

So, I've lost 7pounds from 157 to 150 and I have a little tone.
My goal is not to get huge. I simply want to not have a gut and look trim and fit.

I only have dumbells and a small bench. The weights go up to 30 pounds.

Any help would be great.
Thanks

Head on over to your nearest WalMart and get some more plates and a couple more DB handles. You need to be lifting heavier weights. Or check the ads in the newspaper. People are always selling weights because alot of people go on a fitness kick and then give it up when they realize it takes determination and hard work to see results. ;)

If all you have is 30 lbs you should do some bodyweight resistance exercises (aka calisthenics). Push-Ups, pull-ups, bench dips are all good for "toning".

Next time you are at a book store take a peek at a book by the "Men's Health" folks. It is a fairly thick softcover book about workouts you can do at home (sorry, don't know the book's title.)

Thanks for the advice
Man, I spent all that money on weights that aren't heavy enough!

You say that 30 isn't enough, well those 30 pounds only get used on my upper arms. I have to use the lighter ones cause I'm not strong enough :o

I guess I'm kinda discouraged now. It's been two months and look at me. I thought I'd look better than I do. I feel great though so that's good news.

I dont see any compound exercises? Incorporate these in your schedule. (Things like squats, deadlifts, bench press etc...)
You dont have heavy weights so you are in a perfect position to get the form correct, so then when you begin lifting heavy you shouldn't have to worry how good your form is or injury.
Compounds are a great way to build strength as they work so many different muscles at the same time.

thanks i'll get a new plan together and try it out.

Yeah, definately throw in some compound exercises (dips, pull-ups, bench/dumbell press -- although you'd need heavier weights, squats, maybe deadlifts etc.). I think that would make a big difference.

Also, don't get discouraged. It usually takes a couple of months for hypertrophy to begin! Before that most of the strength increases result from neurological adaptations. So keep at it! You WILL see improvement if you are consistent and dedicated. After all, take a look at John Stone's "before" pictures. He was certainly much worse off than you -- and take a look at him now!

Keep going, you can do it! :tucool:

I love how everyone always gets tan in there before and after photo's. you should focus on cardio to lose weight and get more defenition in my opinion. Light weight is pointless. Even for women many articles I have read suggest that a weight that fails to fatique the muscle after 15 reps is useless, some argue even less. Dips and wide-grip chins along with push-ups are what I would recommend once you out grow your weight you can also do some supersets. I find that this technique of back to back exersizes makes good use of less weight. On thursday I did ribcage pull-overs combined with closegrip presses. Any bicep and tricep exersize is also good to superset (muscle will also burn more calories so don't be scared to add some, it takes serious work to get too big and I have never seen anyone say that they are too big.).

No tan here, just a mistake on the setting on the camera. In my opinion, I haven't earned the right to get a tan. I need to see more results before that happens. :cool: